It is known in the prior art to use mechanicla systems for imparting a rocking motion to cradles, cribs, and the like, for inducing sleep in infants. Examples of simple manual systems for this purpose include the early cradle design of U.S. Pat. No. 141,033 to Chichester, and the cradle holder of U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,869 to Ash.
Examples of systems for imparting mechanized rocking motion without the need for manual rocking by the parent or child care assistant were described briefly in my previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,980. There it was stated that prior art systems are generally complicated by the fact that each requires a support frame having a stationary and a movable portion. A mechanism mounted on the stationary portion imparts rocking motion to the movable portion. A list of patents which outline the prior art follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,420,134 to Nisle PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 1,500,009 to Smaldone PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 1,662,754 to Millard PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 1,733,115 to Capito et al PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 1,795,246 to Brown PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,311,542 to Holme PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,478,445 to Yurkovich PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,318 to Carruth PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,626 to Palmer PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,802 to Leverett PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,869,538 to Hawk PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,343 to Wong PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,731 to Carswell PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,753 to Rios PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,857 to Svehaug PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,492 to Manahan
All of the above prior art patents can be characterized by their disclosure of cumbersome mechanical arrangements requiring a base for supporting a driving mechanism achieving a predetermined directional rocking motion, e.g., a back-and-forth longitudianl motion of a bed or crib, etc. Because they are pre-designed systems, all of the mechanical linkages connecting the driving mechanism to the crib are also predetermined. This limits flexibility of usage with various child care accessories.
The child care accessories available in the market today include many variations of infant seats, carry cradles and other portable components which secure an infant for transportation purposes and placement in the home environment. When at rest, many of these accessories are capable of being manually rocked to soothe irritated infants and induce sleep, but none of the mechanical systems heretofore described are applicable to these accessories for imparting mechanized rocking motion.
Therefore, it would be desireable to provide a simple, portable, easily adjustable, safe and reliable device for imparting multi-directional rocking motion to child care accessories.